The question of how to help students to reach higher language proficiency levels is always raised among language teachers and curriculum designers. A better understanding and an effective employment of the ACTFL proficiency guidelines provide language teachers with: a description of students' language abilities and "a washback effect on curriculum and instruction for language learning", Swender (2012:5). This presentation aims to share my experience in teaching CASA advanced modern standard Arabic summer content course at the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) in the American University in Cairo. The curriculum designer developed this course based on the experiential learning. First, authentic Arabic texts/short stories describing the historical, economic, social and cultural aspects of different places in Cairo are selected. Second, guest speakers; authors of some of the chosen texts are invited. Third, field trips to different places in Cairo are conducted. As the class teacher, my role was to move with my students from the out-of-class to the in-class activities and assignments. Focus was on helping students to reach the superior level in relation to the modes of communication within the ACTFL proficiency benchmarks. Regarding the communication mode, students are asked to pick a text from among the assigned texts and give an oral presentation expressing their own views. Students are also assigned to summarize what they interpreted from talks delivered by both the guides/specialists in the places visited and guest speakers invited. In relation to the intercultural communication mode, upon reading the assigned text, students engage in classroom debates to express their own views, re-assess others’ views, comment and criticize the different perspectives addressed in the tackled texts. Students also interact with the guest speakers and guides/specialists to share an understanding of the Egyptian culture. As for the interpretative communication mode, students are asked to deduce meanings and ideas embedded in the assigned texts written in a complex Arabic language. Students’ linguistic competence is stressed through the interpersonal communication mode. In other words, while engaging in oral debates and writing reflection papers about the assigned texts, talks of guest speakers and guides/specialists, students are trained to simulate the sophisticated spoken and written discourses of Arab speakers coherently with regard to interpretation and production of abundant vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, complex syntax and morphology and appropriate stylistic devices. Finally, I believe that sharing my experience in teaching this course is a good exemplary for language teachers and teachers in other disciplines.

Language programs and pedagogy are always shifting to adjust to new fresh ideas, students’ needs and new challenging goals. As CASA summer program underwent a major change in curriculum and structure, the goals for teaching the advanced colloquial Arabic course shifted as well. The colloquial Arabic course diminishes the focus on teaching textbooks and concentrates on providing students with rich authentic cultural learning opportunities linked to MSA course content in an attempt to move the students to the superior level. The most recent guidelines released by the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) stated that mixing both MSA and a dialect is a predominant feature in Arabic speech at the Superior –level (ACTFL2012). In addition, the updated course aims to reflect the linguistic reality of the Arabic spoken varieties through exposing students to a variety of authentic cultural activities aiming to foster higher language proficiency that is sociolinguistic appropriate . Al Batal and Benlap (2006:397) mention that “the Arabic classroom is a place in which multiple registers co-exist, as they do in real life”. Moreover, in order to maximize oral interaction with Egyptian native speakers, activities were designed in cultural context to raise their cultural awareness and set the students on the path towards the superior level. As stated by Huntly (2018), Interactions are key to developing the necessary cultural knowledge and awareness students need in their future life. In this context, the study discusses and aims to: 1) share the instructor’s teaching experiences, instructional practices to engage CASA students in authentic cultural setting with the expectation to reach the superior level by the time they end the full year program. 2) present an instructional approach in which colloquial Arabic course integrates MSA content to be taught side by side as one language entity focusing on developing spoken oral production. 3) designing task based instruction questions to reflect on meeting authors, community based learning, visiting historical sites ….. etc. to deepen their cultural and linguistic competence. Finally, the study provides suggestions on how to improve authentic instructional activities to promote students to the superior level and to more sophisticated levels of Arabic language use. In addition, it suggests further areas of inquiry, and provides practical implications for effective course and curriculum design as well as class instruction and activities.

"The use of standard-based assessment (SBA) has gained prominence in higher education due to a wide range of research evidence that supports its effectiveness in improving learning and teaching” Alonso, Mirriahi & Davison 2019 p. 636). SBA refers to the clarity of learning outcomes, criteria and standards, where assessment is considered an integral part of learning and teaching. More importantly, engaging students in all kinds of assessment activities and giving them thoughtful feedback. Adhering to assessment supports students in their learning, motivation, planning and recognizing other educational achievement (Assessment Reform 2002). Sharma 2015 indicates that that has to be clearly described to students so that they can focus their learning strategies in achieving such outcomes. Anderson (2013) suggests that a good way to accomplish this is through using exemplary material to discuss the learning outcomes and the criteria with students. This paper assesses students’ performance against ACTFL standards in terms of effectiveness of the new material, curriculum innovation and alignment between assessment measures and program outcomes. The researcher here examines the SBA reflected in the summer program of the Center for Arabic Studies Abroad (CASA) in Cairo in terms of how these standards align with the learning outcomes of the program from different aspects. It shows the alignment between the SBA and the learning-oriented assessment provided to students. It also examines the involvement of students with SBA in terms of their awareness of the learning outcomes, criteria and tasks, the evidence of their performance, their role in assessment; whether self or peer, their engagement in productive learning, and the assessment measures employed. The paper also examines the effectiveness of feedback and the reflection of students. The framework used to accomplish such assessment is that provided by Alonso et al (2019). It consists of six levels of performance for each stage of SBA practice development. Standards and criteria used to measure performance here have a significant impact on improving practice, especially when accompanied with developmental guides (Ellis 2016). Moreover, using such a framework has implications on curriculum design, professional practice, professional development and policy articulation (Alonso et al 2019). Finally, the paper provides recommendations regarding how to assure complete alignment between the SBA and the evidence of students’ productive learning. It also suggests strategies for using SBA for sound curriculum and assessment decisions.